New bells for City church

A service will be held tomorrow at St. Magnus the Martyr Church, located in the City of London, to celebrate the consecration of a new ring of bells, 65 years after the previous ring were removed.

The original ring of bells and the church were destroyed in the Great Fire of London. Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt the church in 1676 and added a tower and spire in 1704 and new bells were installed in 1714. These were subsequently removed from the tower in 1940 for safety, but were damaged and eventually scrapped, leaving the tower empty for 65 years.

Tomorrow’s service will be attended by several City dignitaries, including the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Ian Luder, and the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard John Carew Chartres. The bells will be hung after the service, in preparation for their first ringing on Easter Day.

Dickon Love, Appeal Secretary at St Magnus the Martyr Church, who led the project through to completion, says: “We are delighted that, for the first time since the 1940s, these bells will sing out across the Thames to encourage churchgoers and visitors into the building. Everyone who has contributed to our appeal, in particular, the City of London Corporation, has helped us reinstate a long-lost part of the City’s heritage and left a valuable legacy for many generations to come.”